Boone Co. Running Low on Salt, But Has Enough for Storm

BOONE COUNTY - Boone County Public Works said it's running low on salt, but that it has enough for this week's winter storm.

Chet Dunn, the road operations manager at Boone County Public Works, agrees with Boone County Presiding Commissioner Daniel Atwill that the county is running low on salt, but Dunn said the county has enough for this storm. Earlier, Atwill told KOMU 8 News the county did not have an adequate amount of salt for the storm. That's a fact fellow commissioner Janet Thompson disputed.

"We're low. Everybody in the state is low. There's a shortage out there, a supply issue of getting salt to the depots and then to us," Dunn said. "We have plenty for this event, and probably the next two events after this. No problem on this one."

Dunn said right now public works has about 300 tons of salt and uses about 200 tons for each big snow. Dunn added they also have about 600 to 700 tons of sand/salt mix, which is used when the temperature gets below 20 degrees. He said salt is not effective at that temperature and the sand provides traction.

But more salt is on the way.

"We have salt that's supposed to be delivered this week and next and we're working on procuring some more," Dunn said.

Dunn also gave a rough timeline for when the roads should be cleared.

"Once the snow stops, it's going to take at least 24 hours to get all the paved roads cleared and then it'll take three shifts [days] to get all the gravel roads cleared."

Dunn urged people to simply stay off the roads.

"When it's snowing an inch an hour, there's no way we're going to be able to keep up with the snow fight, Dunn said. "We're really not going to make any headway until the snow stops."

If you're trying to clean off your driveway, Dunn has a few tips to keep you from doing double the work.

"When you get this much snow, there's no place to put it in subdivisions, so it's going to be an issue with people's mailboxes and there's not a whole lot we can do," Dunn said. "If they can shovel their driveway, shovel with the flow of traffic so the plow can carry it the right way and not fill their driveway back up."